BBC Apprentice star buys engagement ring from Diamond Dealer

If you’re getting withdrawal symptoms for the BBC’s The Apprentice, chances are you’ll have to wait a little while longer for the twelfth series. A summer full of sport means Lord Sugar is unlikely to be back on our screens until at least September or October.

The Apprentice remains one of the BBC’s most-watched reality TV programs and features a bunch of plucky entrepreneurs brave enough to pitch their big idea to Lord Sugar in the hope that he’ll see enough of a business opportunity to invest £250,000 of his own cash. Much hilarity usually ensues, although one or two bright sparks usually stand out from the other fame-chasing contestants.

The team at Diamond Dealer Direct were recently treated to something of a “You’re fired!” or in our case “You’re hired!” nostalgia trip when a former Apprentice contestant entered our Jewellery Quarter store and purchased an engagement ring.

Do you remember Nick Holzherr? The Aston University business graduate appeared on the eighth series of the show back in 2012 which was won by Ricky Martin, no not the latin popstar. Holzherr’s idea for a web and mobile device that combined online shopping with recipes was dismissed by Lord Sugar.

Speaking of Mr Holzherr’s big idea, Lord Sugar said “It’s achievable, I get that. But so’s sending a man to the Moon. What are we going to get out of it at the end?”

Following his exit from the show, Nick decided to immediately pick himself up off the floor, shake any lingering echoes of the interminable “You’re fired!” catchphrase from his mind and crack on.

It’s a good job he did, because Mr Holzherr managed to successfully acquire £170,000 in funding for Whisk, which was the very idea Lord Sugar shot down in flames.

One of the investors who saw it fit to put his hand in his pocket was Midlands-based Doug Scott, who said “Quite simply, blending recipes with online shopping is a space in the online world which remains untapped, but certainly won’t for much longer.”

Fast-forward to 2016, and Whisk is going strong and looking every bit the combined shopping and recipe app experience Nick had envisaged.

Things have clearly moved on in his personal life, too, as he proved when he made an unexpected appearance at our Birmingham jewellery store in order to find the perfect engagement ring. We won’t let you in on what he bought, but suffice to say he will have one very happy wife-to-be indeed.

We wish him and his partner all the best for the future.

For more information on Nick Holzherr, you can visit his personal website by clicking here.